Movable counterbalance



G. H. GOODELL.

MOVABLE COUNTERBALANCE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 31, 192-0.

Patented June 13 1922.

a SHEETS-SHEliT 1.

G. H. GOODELL.

MOVABLE COUNTERBALANCE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.31,1920.'

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

x i M F 1 G. H. GOODELL.

MOVABLE COUNTERBALANCE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.31, 1920.

1,4193%, Patented. me 113, 1 22,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

oairao stares GEORGE HQ GOOIDELL, on ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

MOVABLE COUNTERBALANCE.

Application filed December 31, 1920.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE II. GooDnLL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Movable Countel-balances, of which the following is a specification.

This invention'relates to counter-balancing weights for moving members. 'More particularly it relates to the counter-balancing of weights which are simultaneously reciprocating and revolving, as for example the parts of the driving mechanism of a railway locomotive.

The object of the invention is to provide a movable weight so mounted in driven wheel that it will move in and out toward and away from the center of the wheel as the wheel revolves. in such manner as to act as a counter-balance to the centrifugal force of the connecting rod and crank pin attached to the wheel, and at the same time act as a counter-balance to the back and forth reciprocating movement of the connecting rod and parts directly Orindirectly connected thereto.

In the driving wheels of locomotives, the flywheels of reciprocating engines, andsuch machines. the inertia of the revolving parts attached to the crank pin, such parts consisting of the rear end of the connecting rod and the parallel rod, can be perfectly balanced by counter-balance weights rigidly attached to the wheel, and this is ordinarily done. But when such counter-balances are properly proportioned and located to exactly counter-balance the revolving parts, an unbalanced condition exists as regards the inertia of the reciprocating parts. These latter move approximately in'a strai ht line at approximately right angles to t e axis of the main shaft, or axle. The result is that the revolving parts may be exactly counter-balanced, the up and down force on the wheel may be rendered practically constant and uniform, but the back and forth movement of the parts of the driving mechanism in such case will not be neutralized and consequently there is a jerk at each extremity of the movement forward and back of the connecting rods.

On the other hand counter-weights may be so positioned and adjusted as to exactly counter-balance this back and forth move- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 1?, 1922.

Serial No. 434,344.

ment. But, in that case, the up and down throw is not completely neutralized,and there is a substantial variation in the vertical forces.

In actual practice it has been the custom Referring to the drawings, Fi 1 shows a side elevation of an ordinary railroad locomotive driving wheel with my movable counteroveight applied to it; Fig. 2 is a partial horizontal section on the line 2-2, of Fig. 1; Fig. 8 is a central vertical section on the line 33, of Fig. 1 Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line H, of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a partial vertical section through a pair of drive wheels and their axle, showing the counter-weights connected by a cable; and Figs. 6 and 7 are side elevations of the two drive wheels of Fig. 5.

Although -my invention is applicable to all kinds of rod driven recigrocating engines, and I desire to cover by etters Patent its application to all such engines, I will, for

purpose of illustration, describe its application to a steam locomotive in which the motion of the reciprocating parts is in an approximately horizontal straight line. In

such a locomotive, if sufficient properly proportioned and properly disposed fixed counter-weights are placed in the driving wheels to exactly balance the revolving masses, the inertia of the masses of the piston, piston rod. cross head and attachments thereto, and the front end of the connecting rod, which constitute the reciprocating parts, remains unbalanced with the result that as these reciprocating masses come to rest at both ends of the piston stroke there is an unbalanced force acting in an approximately horizontal direction which at high speeds produces a forward and backward oscillation of the 10- comotive, resulting in excessive wear of a great many parts of the locomotive, discomfort to the engine crew, and a nosing motion of the locomotive which increases the wear of the wheel flanges and of the rails and is attended by danger of derailment. On the other hand, if fixed counter-balance weights placed in the driving wheels are properly proportioned and disposed to exactly counter-balance the inertia of the revolving and the reciprocating masses at the ends of the stroke, the centrifugal force of these revolving counter-balance masses will exceed the centrifugal force of the revolving masses of the crank pin and the parts attached to it when the piston is at mid-stroke, and there will be resultant unbalanced'forces in the wheels acting in radially outward directions at right angles to the axis of the axle,

which will increase the pressure between the driving wheels and the rails when the crank pin is in its highest position and decrease said pressure when the crank pin is in its lowest position, and produce a varying pressure between the wheels and the rails throughout the revolution of the wheels, the tendency being to reduce the pressure when the crank pin is below the horizontal plane passing through theaxis of the axle and to increase the pressure when the crank pin is above the horizontal plane described above.

If the counterbalancing masses fixed in the wheels are not of sufficient magnitude to fully counter-balance the revolving and reciprocating masses but are of greater magnitude than would be required to exactly counter-balance the revolving masses only,

then a compromise condition exists which results in a combination of the undesirable eifects of imperfect vertical and horizontal balance. The usual practice at the present time in locomotive design and construction is to so proportion and locate counter-balance weights as to produce a compromise condition which results in fairly smooth riding. lVith an imperfect balance of this sort there is a variation in pressure between the Wheels and the rails during the revolution and in general the higher the speed the greater the variation in pressure. The varition in pressure between wheels and rails is universally admitted to be an element of danger and the intensity of the maximum pressure is such an important consideration from the standpoint of safety that it is now very carefully computed for heavy locoits of safety, and it has led to the use of lightend specially designed reciprocating above-referred to and to eliminate the unsatisfactory conditions resulting therefrom, I provide a counter-balancing weight in the drivingwheel so mounted as to be automatically moved toward and from the axis of the driving wheel. This movable counterweight is composed of an outer part 10 and an inner part 11, the two being clamped together by a bolt 12 extending therethrough. The inner end of this bolt forms a projecting guide pin 13, which extends into and follows a groove 14 formed in the face of a fixed cam member 15.- This cam member 15 is situated between the driving wheel and the driving box 16. It encircles and fits closely upon the journal of the axle, and is provided with flanges or lugs 17 which fit over the vertical flanges of the driving box 16 and so prevent the cam member from revolving, but permit it to rise and fall with the axle. groove is approximately elliptical, with its major axis horizontal and its minor axis vertical.

As shown in Fig. 2 the two parts 10 and 11 of the counter-weight form vertical grooves 20 and these engage vertical parallel guide spokes 21, formed in thewheel body. This mounting permits the counterweight to move freely in and out from the axis of the wheel in a radial path. By this mounting of the counter-weight in the radial guiding members 21, with a guide pin extending into the cam groove 14, when the 'driving wheel rotates the movable counter-weight moves in an approximately radial direction with respect to the axis of the Wheel but at the same time revolves with the wheel and at approximately the same angular velocity as j the wheel.

The fixed counter-weights 6 and 7 being chosen to accurately counter-balance the centrifugal force of the crank-pin 5 and-the connecting rods attached thereto, the movable counter-weight sliding in and out from the axis of the wheel in a direction opposite to the horizontal movement of the connecting rod. the result is, when all of the parts are properly adjusted and correlated, to produce a complete neutralization or balancing of the forces resulting from the inertia of both the revolving and reciprocating weights.

While I prefer and show for purposes of illustration a cam to actuate the movable The cam parts of the counter-balance, there are other Ways of controlling the position of this movable weight. For instance, as the cranks on the oppositesides of a locomotive are set 90 degrees apart, the movable counter-balance weights in opposite wheels on the same axle may be connected by a chain or cable passing through a hole drilled concentric with the axis of the axle. Such a connecting means partially relieves the cams of stress in actuating the weights.

Such a construction is illustrated in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, wherein a pair of driving wheels V? and V are shown mounted upon an axle 4:, which has an axial bore running therethrough. Guide pulleys 31 and 32 are rotatably mounted on suitable axles 33 and 3e, and positioned in planes at ninety degrees to each other. A cable 35 runs through the bore 30 of the axle, around the guide pulleys 31 and 32, and has its ends attached to the counter-weights 10 and 10 respectively. The ends of the bore 30 are preferably covered with a cap or plug to prevent entry of dust, etc., and to give the end of the axle the appearance of being solid.-

Since the crank pins of a pair of driving wheels are set ninety degrees apart, as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, it follows from the driving of these weights by the cams above described that the counter-weight of one wheel is at innermost position when the counter-weight of the other wheel is at outermost position. Consequently, when the two weights are connected by a flexible member such as a cable or chain running through the axle and around the guide pulleys as illustrated in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, the movement of the weights is steadied by this flexible connection, and the stress of shifting the weight in and out, is partly borne by the cable, thus relieving the stresson the guide cam and pin. This does not detract from the counterbalancing efiect of the weights themselves, but it does aid in shifting them in and out as will be obvious, since one weight is always traveling inward when the other one is traveling outward, and vice versa.

The movable counter-balance weights may also be actuated by compress sd air, steam, oil or other fluid, or by suitably located and properly synchronated magnets.

While in general my method of counterbalancing locomotives contemplates the use of a sliding counter-balance weight in the main wheels only, conditions may be encountered under which it would be desirable to place sliding counter-balance weights in the other driving wheels coupled to the main wheels. For example, in a locomotive having two or more pairs of driving wheels coupled by parallel rods in the usual manner. each wheel may be provided with my sliding counterbalance weight so proportioned and adjusted as to produce a perfect vertical balance in each wheel and the aggregate horizontal effect ofall of the countor-balances may be made to produce a perfect horizontal balance. Such acombination and arrangement of'counter-balances may be necessary because in some cases it movable counter-balance-not simply a sin gle pair of them as illustrated. Likewise all of the pairs of driving wheels may be equipped with counter-weights and flexible connections, as illustrated. The principle of the invention is the same, however, and its application to a number of wheels, or pairs of wheels is merely duplication of the simple forms shown.

The many uses and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those familiar with the art.

I claim:

1. The combination with a wheel driven by reciprocating mechanism, of a movable weight actuated to change its position relative to the axis of the wheel in response to movement of the wheel, whereby to counterbalance the reciprocating mechanism.

2. In a wheel driven by reciprocating mechanism, a movable counter-balancing weight, and means actuated by movement of the wheel to drive the weight toward and from the axis of the wheel.

3. In a wheel driven by reciprocating mechanism, a movable weight mounted in the body of the wheel, and means to constantly reciprocate the weight whereby to counter-balance the inertia of the reciprocatin mechanism driving said wheel.

4. The combination with a wheel driven by a reciprocating rod, of a movable coun ter-balancing weight mounted in the driven wheel, and means to move the Weight radially toward and from the axis of the wheel in a direction'opposite to the movement of the rod.

5. In a construction comprising a wheel driven by reciprocating mechanism, a movable weight mounted in the body of the wheel, a housing for the weight adapted to permit the weight to move radially with respect to the wheel, and a cam controlling the radial movement of the weight whereby the weight is made to move to and from the axis of the wheel in a direction opposite to the movement of the reciprocating mechain opposition to the reciprocating movement of the driving rod.

7. In a mechanism comprising a reciprocating rod and a main Wheel driven thereby, a movable counter-weight mounted in the body of the wheel diametrically opposite the connectionqof the driving rod and wheel, a

pin fixed in the c0unter-weight, and an elliptical cam groove engaging said pim'by' which .cam groove the counter-we1ght is made to move radially in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of the driving rod.

8.. The combination with a wheel driven by-a reciprocating rod, of a housing mounted in the wheel body and comprising guides parallel to a diameter of the wheel, a weight slidably mounted in said guides, andmeans to move the weight toward and from the axis of the wheel in opposition to the longitudinal movement of the reciprocating member driving the wheel.

9. In a locomotive construction, the combination with a driving wheel and a reciprocating rod driving the wheel, of a housing mounted in the wheel body, said housing comprising guides parallel to a diameter of the wheel, a counter-balancing weight slidably carried by said guides, a guide 'pin' fixed in the weight, a cam member surrounding the axle of the driving wheel and fixed relative to the locomotive body, and an ellipcaused to reciprocate radially as the wheel rotates.

10. In a locomotive construction comprising movable counter-weights mounted in the driving wheels, the combination of a hollow axle carrying a pair of driving Wheels, and a flexible member connected to the movable counter-Weights in said wheels and extending through their common axle.

11. In a locomotive construction, a pair of driving wheels, reciprocating rods driving said wheels, a common axle having a longitudinal bore therethrough, radially movable counter-weights mounted inthe bodies of the drive wheels, means to drive the weights radially in the wheels in directions opposite to the longitudinal movement of the reciprocating rods driving the Wheel, and a flexible member connecting the two weights and extending through the bore in the axle.

12. In a locomotive construction, a pair of driving wheels, movable counter weights mounted in the bodies of the drive wheels GEORGE H. GOODELL.

Witnesses:

A. CARHART MARFOLD, H. H. ADAMS.

and arranged to move radially toward and 

